Creative Writing IOWA (Satis Shroff)

A pantoum poem: is a poem of any length, composed of four-line stanzas. In each stanza, the second and fourth lines of each stanza, serve as the first and third lines of the next stanza.

 

GORKHALAND BLUES (Satis Shroff)

Early in the misty monsoon morning,

A Gorkhali meets a Bengali,

Below the statue of Bhanubhakta Acharya,

At Darjeeling’s Chowrasta.

 

A Gorkhali meets a Bengali,

The Bengali doesn’t like the  Adi Kavi

At Darjeeling’s Chowrasta.

The prime poet of the Gorkhalis.

 

The Bengali doesn’t like the  Adi Kavi

Why do you have your poet here,

The prime poet of the Gorkhalis.

Why not also Tagore?

 

Why do you have your poet here?

The Gorkhali says,’ Tagore belongs to Shantiniketan.’

Why not also Tagore?

East Bengal belonged to ancient Bengal.

 

The Gorkhali says,’ Tagore belongs to Shantiniketan.’

East Bengal belonged to ancient Bengal.

But it turned into East Bengal overnight in 1947.

You Bengalis had nothing in common

 

But it turned into East Bengal overnight in 1947.

With the Muslims of East Pakistan

You Bengalis had nothing in common

Freedom from Pakistan led to Bangladesh.

 

With the Muslims of East Pakistan.

We in the hills of Darjeeling,

Freedom from Pakistan led to Bangladesh.

Want freedom from Bengal.

 

We in the hills of Darjeeling,

We want our own Gorkhaland.

Want freedom from Bengal.

‘But Gorkhaland lies in Bengal,’ says the Bengali.

 

We want our own Gorkhaland.

What do you have in common with us Gorkhalis?

‘But Gorkhaland lies in Bengal,’ says the Bengali.

The Bengali replies: ‘We have the same religion.’

 

What do you have in common with us Gorkhalis?

Ah, but nothing else. You eat fish, we eat dal-bhat-shikar.

The Bengali replies: ‘We have the same religion

We fought for our Nepali language.

 

Ah, but nothing else. You eat fish, we eat dal-bhat-shikar

It has been recognised as one of the languages of India.

We fought for our Nepali language.

The Bengali retorts with gleaming eyes:

 

It has been recognised as one of the languages of India.

 ‘Tagore got the Nobel Prize.’

The Bengali retorts with gleaming eyes:

We are fighting for our Gorkhali identity.

 

‘Tagore got the Nobel Prize.’

Neither do you speak our tongue nor do you read Nepali literature.

We are fighting for our Gorkhali identity.

You read your own books and watch your own Bengali films.

 

Neither do you speak our tongue nor do you read Nepali literature.

We read Bhanubhakta, Bangdel and Devkota.

You read your own books and watch your own Bengali films.

You have usurped our land,

 

We read Bhanubhakta, Bangdel and Devkota

You have usurped our land,

And have become rich and arrogant in the process.

The monoculture Thea sinensis was planted

 

And have become rich and arrogant in the process

By the Nepalese migrants under the British Raj.

The monoculture Thea sinensis was planted

The plantations are not owned by Gorkhalis but Bengalis.

 

By the Nepalese migrants under the British Raj.

The migrants from Bengal have done in Darjeeling,

The plantations are not owned by Gorkhalis but Bengalis.

What the Han Chinese have done in Lhasa.

 

The migrants from Bengal have done in Darjeeling,

You have taken our jobs away: the teaching profession,

What the Han Chinese have done in Lhasa.

Administrative jobs all run by brown Bengali babus.

 

You have taken our jobs away: the teaching profession

‘We are better qualified, perhaps,‘ says the Bengali.

Administrative jobs all run by brown Bengali babus.

Qualification takes time and money.

 

‘We are better qualified, perhaps,‘ says the Bengali.

The only legacy and pride left to us is our brawn,

Qualification takes time and money.

As soldiers under foreign flags and India’s Gorkha regiments.

 

The only legacy and pride left to us is our brawn,

Where is the liberty, equality and fraternity

As soldiers under foreign flags and India’s Gorkha regiments.

Guaranteed by the biggest democracy in the world?

 

Where is the liberty, equality and fraternity?

Had Darjeeling been reverted to Sikkim we’d be well off,

Guaranteed by the biggest democracy in the world,

As the Sikkimese are today under Central rule.

 

Had Darjeeling been reverted to Sikkim we’d be well off,

What have you Bengalis brought to us besides poverty and misery?

As the Sikkimese are today under Central rule.

The railways, roads and telegraph were introduced by the Brits,

 

What have you Bengalis brought to us besides poverty and misery?

The three leaves and a bud were planted by the English.

The railways, roads and telegraph were introduced by the Brits,

The entire administrative jobs were kept by the Bengalis.

 

The three leaves and a bud were planted by the English.

The Gorkhalis transferred to jobs in the plains.

The entire administrative jobs were kept by the Bengalis

How can you say Darjeeling belongs to Bengal?

 

The Gorkhalis transferred to jobs in the plains

The bespectacled Bengali Minister Namata Mukerjee,

How can you say Darjeeling belongs to Bengal?

Warns the Gorkhalis with a raised index-finger,

 

The bespectacled Bengali Minister Namata Mukerjee

Delays development in Darjeeling deliberately,

Warns the Gorkhalis with a raised index-finger,

Demands more troops from Delhi,

 

Delays development in Darjeeling deliberately,

Instead of solving Gorkhaland’s people’s demands.

Demands more troops from Delhi,

Please read the history of Sikkim and Darjeeling.

 

Instead of solving Gorkhaland’s people’s demands.

Please read the story of Sikkim and Darjeeling.

We never belonged to Bengal in history.

We never belonged to Bengal in history.

* * *

 

 

 

 

GORKHALAND BLUES (Satis Shroff)

The bespectacled Bengali Chief Minister Namata Mukerjee,

Warns the Gorkhalis with a raised index-finger,

Delays development in Darjeeling deliberately,

Demands more troops from Delhi,

Instead of solving Gorkhaland’s people’s demands.

Please read the history of Sikkim and Darjeeling.

We never belonged to Bengal in history.

 

We are fighting for our Gorkhali identity.

Neither do you speak our tongue nor do you read Nepali literature.

You read your own books and watch your own Bengali films.

We read Bhanubhakta, Lainsingh Bangdel and Devkota.

You have usurped our land,

And have become rich and arrogant in the process.

The monoculture Thea sinensis was planted

By the Nepalese migrants under the British Raj.

The plantations are not owned by Gorkhalis but Bengalis.

The migrants from Bengal have done in Darjeeling,

What the Han Chinese have done in Lhasa.

You have taken our jobs away: the teaching profession,

Administrative jobs all run by brown Bengali babus.

‘We are better qualified, perhaps,’ says the Bengali.

 

Qualification takes time and money.

The only legacy and pride left to us is our brawn,

As soldiers under foreign flags and India’s Gorkha regiments.

Where is the liberty, equality and fraternity

Guaranteed by the biggest democracy in the world?

Had Darjeeling been reverted to Sikkim we’d be well off,

As the Sikkimese are today under Central rule.

 

Early in the misty monsoon morning,

A Gorkhali meets a Bengali,

Below the statue of Bhanubhakta Acharya,

At Darjeeling’s Chowrasta.

The Bengali doesn’t like the  Adi Kavi

The prime poet of the Gorkhalis there.

‘Why do you have your poet here,

Why not also Tagore?’ asks the Bengali.

 

The Gorkhali says, ‘Tagore belongs to Shantiniketan.’

East Bengal belonged to ancient Bengal.

But it turned into East Bengal overnight in 1947.

You Bengalis had nothing in common

With the Muslims of East Pakistan.

Freedom from Pakistan let to Bangladesh.

 

We, in the hills of Darjeeling,

Want freedom from Bengal.

We want our own Gorkhaland.

‘But Gorkhaland lies in Bengal, ‘ says the Bengali.

What do you have in common with us Gorkhalis?

The Bengali replies: ‘We have the same religion.’

Ah, but nothing else. You eat fish, we eat dal-bhat-shikar.

We fought for our Nepali language.

It has been recognised as one of the languages of India.

The Bengali retorts with gleaming eyes:

 ‘Tagore got the Nobel Prize.’

 

What have you Bengalis brought to us besides poverty and misery?

The railways, roads and telegraph were introduced by the Brits,

The three leaves and a bud were planted by the English.

The entire administrative jobs were kept by the Bengalis.

The Gorkhalis transferred to jobs in the plains.

How can you say Darjeeling belongs to Bengal?

* * *

....................................................................................................................................

LIVING GODDESS Kumari Cult in Nepal (Satis Shroff)
 

The Kumari, who is worshipped as the Living Goddess in Katmandu, is a small girl who lives in a beautiful palace with exquisitely carved wooden windows called the Palace of the Kumari, You can recognise her on her scarlet sari with golden edges, her pagoda-formed jet black hair, which are tied neatly on top. And she wears the third eye of wisdom on her forehead.

History: The beginnings of the Kumari Cult date back to the 13th century. A decisive event of the cult took place in 1323 when a king named Hari Singh Deva, who hailed from North India fled from the Islamic invaders and sought refuge in Nepal with his family. Among others things he'd also brought along his family goddess Taleju Bhavani. Hara Singh soon became the King of Bhaktapur, and as a consequence Taleju Bhavani became the ruling Goddess of the town of Katmandu. Even today, the Kumari remains the most important Goddess and the protector of Katmandu Valley. The Royals have lost their status due to the revolution and the decade long war between the Royalist government and the Maoists from the hills of Nepal but the Kumari reigns still, despite the Maoist and communist politicians who now run the Himalayan state.

Legend: According to a legend delivered 200 years ago, when Nepal comprised many small independent kingdoms, the Goddess used to visit one of these kings once in a while. They used to talk with each other with respect and played Tripasa, an old dice game in those days. One day King Jaya Prakash Malla fell unfortunately in love with the Goddess and tried to seduce her, who understandably felt piqued and insulted and henceforth didn't pay them any more visits. She came once in his dream once though, and ordered him to choose a small girl from the Sakya family, the caste of the Newar goldsmiths of Kathmandu Valley. The Goddess proclaimed that she would reside as a reincarnation in the innocent and virgin body of the Sakya girl. The Goddess Taleju told him, 'Pray and worship her as Kumari, the Living Goddess, for when you worship her, you worship me.'

As time went on the other kings carried out the tradition of the Kumari cult, and when you go to Nepal you'll see and experience this ancient cult even today. The Katmandu Kumari became the Royal Kumari, and was worshipped by the King of Nepal, even though the last King (Gyanendra) has been stripped of his judiciary, legislative and executive powers, because according to Hindu tradition the former  King of Nepal is still regarded as the reincarnation of Vishnu, the second God of the Hindu triad (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva). The worshippers of Vishnu (Bishnu) recognise in him the supreme being from whom all things emanate. In the epics Mahabharata and the Puranas, Vishnu is the creator (Prajapati) and supreme God.

It might be noted that last year King Gyanendra insisted on visiting the Kumari in her palace and worshipped the Living Goddess, despite the fact that he'd become unpopular as a former monarch with the people of Kathmandu Valley, and Nepal in genera, through his brutal use of force instead of democratic dialogue. While King Birendra, his dead brother, was a popular monarch, Gyanendra's ascension to Nepal's throne was jinxed from the beginning under a bad planetary constellation, as the court astrologer would put it. King Birendra lost his absolute power in 1990 after a bloody people's revolution. Nepal became, thereafter, a parlamentary monarchy, but the mountainous country became politically unstable. Even though a Nepalese journalist has written a best-seller in the country with the title „Rakta Kunda“ which threw light into the working of the blue-blooded royal denizens of the Narayanhiti Palace, and the palace murders, it is nevertheless not clear who really shot and eliminated the entire Shah clan, with the exception of King Gyanendra and his family. Crown Prince Dipendra Shah is supposed to have shot his own parents and the entire family.

It was more a symbolical gesture to appease the people of Nepal who were out in the streets along with the armed and militant Maoists that King Gyanendra paid homage to the Living Goddess in the past. It seems to have worked wonders. Some important politicians of the Congress Party have now expressed their second thoughts about having the disposed of the King. A pro-monarchy movement seems to have cropped up in the Nepalese capital.

Indra Jatra: Now back to the Kumari or Indra Jatra. A jatra is a religious procession in Nepal and India. 'Who's Indra?' you might ask. Indra is the God of the firmament, the personified atmosphere. It is during the Indra Jatra's third night of festivities that the Shah King of Nepal visits the the Kumari in her palace, which is located near Basantapur Plaza. This is thought to be not only a gesture of respect but also an evidence that the king holds no power over the manifestation of Taleju Bhavani. The Kumari legitimates through this act of granting the King of Nepal an audience, and appyling tika (vermillion powder) on his forehead, his rule for a period of one year. And thereby hangs a tale.

32 signs: 'How can one become a Living Goddess?' you might ask. In order to be a Kumari, the female candidates have to be three or four years old and have to fulfil a row of conditions that have been set down in the scriptures as 'the list of 32 signs':
The virgin has to have well proportioned hands and feet like those of a duck. She must have beautifully formed heels and possess circular lines on the soles of her dainty feet. Her body has to have the form of Saptaccha leaf. Her cheeks and busom must resemble that of a lion. The nape of her neck and throat like a conch from the ocean. She much have forty well-formed, white teeth. The tongue must be small,wet and sensitive. Her voice must resemble that of a sparrow. The eyes and eye-lashed like thows of the holy cow. Her shadow has to be beautiful and golden hued. The hair has to be smooth, black and have to fall to the right side. Her hands, feet and long toes have to be soft and small. She must have round shoulders and long arms. The body of the Kumari has to be flawless, sans pockmarks, and a skim with well-formed pores. She must have a round head with a high forehead. A resistent body, well-formed like the Nyagrodha tree.

The girls who possess the 32 outer perfections are obliged to wait till it becomes dark, so that they can qualify in the feats in scary full darkness, when normal three or four year old kids get the creeps and cry for 'Mom' or 'Dad' in the dark full of fear. But these are ancient Hindu rituals, customs and traditions in a far away land, performed by under the strict supervision of Buddhist and Hindu priests.

Genuine Goddess: The real Kumari is expected to show her courage by overcoming these terrible, shocking scenarios that unfurl one after the other throughout the night, and ferocious growls and noises made by the hidden priests, and are show terrible and frightening masks of demons, and the sight of 108 slaughtered buffalo heads dripping with blood. If, and only if, she doesn't cry is this regarded as one of the signs of her godliness. Once she has been chosen, she becomes a Living Goddess, wears the paraphernalia associated with the Goddess Taleju Bhavani, and presides at the many Hindu and Buddhist religious ceremonies as the Living Goddess till she reaches puberty, when her hormones take over her physical and psychic development into a woman, and she menstruates. A Goddess does not bleed. In case she does, naturally at puberty or earlier through a fall and subsequent injury, she becomes a mortal.

A bleeding, crying, but perhaps happy mortal. Gone are the days and nights in the Kumari Palace, where she blessed all the Hindus, Buddhist and grey-eyed and blonde haired curious visitors with their selfie-cams, digital cameras and camcorders. A reign without her parents, following strict rules and regulations comes to an end. She can find solace in the arms of her parents and brothers and sisters.

The Kumaris receive a small pension after their 'ruling' periods are over. If a Kumari bleeds when she loses a tooth it means she has to leave her throne. The priest touches six parts of the Kumari's body body with a bunch of grass: the vulva, Labia majoris, the navel, the breast and the throat. This ritual is meant to transform the body of the mortal girl to that of a godly one. In Nepal there are quite a few Kumaris and three of them are worshipped with great ceremonies and fanfare in Katmandu, Bhaktapur (Bhadgaon) and Patan (Lalitpur). But not all Kumaris live such isolated lives like the Royal Kumari of Katmandu, who has to be carried by the priests lest her holy feet be polluted by the filth of the earth trodden by mortals. Normally, a Sakya Newari girl can be a Kumari and is respected and worshipped till seven or eight years. Nevertheless, the Kumari is a feature (Konstrukt) or institute based on fragile premises. If a Kumari dies during her tenure as a Living Goddess, she cannot be reincarnated, because according to Hinduism a Goddess cannot die. But weren't King Birendra and Queen Aiyeshwarya and other members of the divine royal family shot and died like common mortals? Hush! Gods cannot die in Nepal.

When Sajanai Sakya, a Kumari who went to the USA on a 39 day trip to attend the screening of a BBC documentary about her life, some priests headed by Jaiprasad Regmi, demanded that she be declared a mortal and thus no longer a Kumari, because a Goddess is not allowed to go abroad—across the kala pani (black water). A faux pas that the purity-pollution-thinking priests haven't forgiven her. There is obviously a power play between the orthodox priests on the one hand, and the
democratic, neo-ethnic federalists, human rights activists, feminists and maoists on the other hand. Whereas the priests are trying to prevent the undermining of their ancient rights and privileges as mediators between the Gods and humans, there is an increasing commercialisation of the revered but poor Living Goddess by the western media. Instead of centuries of silence as a Kumari, the Living Goddess of Katmandu might in future give public human-interest interviews and exclusive photo shootings in her new role till the hormones play havoc in her godly body.

Nepal has to go with the times, for the Hindu and Buddhist worshippers of the Kumari have left the country and the believers have settled down in foreign shores and desire and demand their share of of the Heimat, religion and culture. If the worshippers can't come to the Goddess Kumari, then the Living Goddess has to go on tournee across the Seven Seas, kala pani as we call it, and carry out the panipatya ceremony like generations of Hindu and Buddhist British Gurkhas have done, when they return home. I did it too.

* * * * *

Q. An old Gurkha soldier prepares to return to Nepal-DJ. His thoughts and arguments.

If you are writing the first scene of the play, take that scrap of dialogue or monologue and imagine what new lives might surround it – still focus on the same traditional role.

Q. What new events might break up your traditional timeline?

Q. What new  characters might strain your reader’s imagination? Q. What elements of unreality might bring  you to show the reader this cultural role in a completely different way?

 

Short-story:  DESTINATION DARJEELING (Satis Shroff)

 

"That's a terrible injustice," said Raj Rana aloud at the Paddington Station. Mr. Rana was at the station, on his way to Gatwick Airport. From there he had a flight ticket from Her Majesty’s Government to Nepal after long years of service in the British Gurkhas.

 

"What do you mean, Raj-ji?" said the turbaned Punjabi bus-driver from London, whom he'd known for a decade.

 

"The Brits are not nice to the Gurkhas. Look at me. I slaved for the Union Jack during the Falkland War. My father fought for the Brits in the World War II and was wounded by the Germans."

 

"Why join the British or Indian Army? Just apply for political asylum like me. I came over when the Indian Army stormed our Golden Temple in Amritsar."

 

"It's not easy for Nepalese to apply for asylum."

 

"Why? Everybody gets an asylum in Britain. Look at the streets in the East End, Southhall. Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Nigerians, Jamaicans everywhere."

 

"The British and German authorities always say: "Nepal is a peaceful country. There's no war out there. The tourists go there all the time. How can we Gurkhas convince the British government that we want to stay on in England after we've done our service? They always send us home," said Mr. Rana.

 

"Home is where your heart is," said the Sikh, thoughtfully smoothening his moustache.

 

"Exactly. My heart is in England. My wife also wants to stay here and so do our two children."

 

"When I was in India I used to say, "Indian government, no good government. Apply, apply, no reply," said the Punjabi whose name was Avtar Singh. He’d found it difficult to get jobs in India. He'd sent out a lot of applications without any success.

 

The Gurkha Raj Rana replied, "Now I'm in Britain and I'm saying British government, no good government. The British we meet in everyday life are splendid people, straightforward and helpful, and hold us in high regard. We, Gurkhas, have fought for England since 1816.

 

"You Nepalese have no lobby in Britain. That's the reason why the Brits treat you like that," said Mr.Singh, scratching under his turban for the sun was shining that day in London. He’d brought along his telescope umbrella along. You never knew with English weather.

 

"No lobby? How can we have a lobby when we live in barracks with our families. No contact with the British people. Our children have to do SLC, and not GCSE certificates when they finish schooling."

 

"SLC?"

 

Mr. Rana explained, "School Leaving Certificate, a paper from Nepal."

 

Mr. Singh suddenly came up with: "You know what, Rana-ji? I think it's because Nepal was never in the Commonwealth."

 

"Do we have to apologise that we've remained an independent and sovereign state?" said Mr. Rana.

 

"During the Falkland War the British government said, ‘The Gurkhas are an integral part of the British Army,’" said the Gurkha.

 

"Yes, I remember reading about it. It was because the Argentinians protested in the UNO that the British were deploying mercenary soldiers," said Mr. Singh.

 

“Some mercinary soldiers, “ remarked Mr. Rana. “For our bravery and loyalty, the Queen of England awarded us  6,500 decorations, including 13 Victoria Crosses and two George Cross medals. But you can’t live on medals alone, you know, Mr. Singh.”

 

"If we are equal to the British soldiers and an integral part of the Army, then why do we have lesser pay than the British soldiers?" said Mr. Rana.

 

"You are right. Why? I get the same pay as a white Cockney bus-driver."

 

"I think you people have no lawyers and politicians behind you."

 

"Mrs. Blair fought for our rights once. But her husband is no longer in politics."

 

Expressing solidarity with the Gurkha movement, Liberal Democratic MP of the British parliament, Peter Carroll, had once said that the 1997 cut off date was unjustified, and that it was wrong for UK to continue to discriminate against people who had defended the UK and even sacrificed their lives, while protecting Britain and the crown. A delegation of former Gurkhas had later handed over a petition at the 10 Downing Street, the office of Prime Minister Tony Blair, and held a meeting with Veterans Minister of the British government, Derek Twiggs. In a letter faxed to GAESO and the United British Gurkha Ex-Servicemen’s Association in Nepal, Col. R.J.J. Ellis defended the cut-off date as being the day “when the (Gurkha) Brigade became a UK-based force.” On July 1, 1997, the brigade was moved to Britain from Hong Kong because the British were obliged to hand over the former Crown Colony to China.

Mahendra Lal Rai, Secretary of GAESO went on record as saying: “We will continue our fight for equal rights on the streets, as well as in court rooms against the discriminatory policies of the British government.”

Very little had happened since then..

The British authorities had refuted allegations that there has been discrimination against the 3,500 British Gurkha soldiers serving in the British army.

"Besharam! Such an impertinence," said Mr. Singh, with a big sigh.

 

The train came and Mr. Singh hugged Mr. Rana, who entered the compartment, waved at a smiling Mr. Singh with his family, and in their thoughts they were already in Katmandu, where things were uncertain and a Maoist republic awaited them, with hikes in prices of basic commodities, political instability. Nepal seemed to be disintegrating because there was no unifying figure. The people in Nepal’s southern Terai were demanding a separate state and recognition of Hindi as the language of the Madhisays, and some had even suggested that the Terai, Nepal’s Corn Chamber, should become a state of the Indian Union. Perhaps that’s how a democratic republic functioned in the early stages.

 

Mr. Rana felt a terrible feeling of nausea sweeping over him when he thought about the forthcoming trip to his second homeland Darjeeling. Those grabbing Bengali customs officers who were out to rob the Gurkhas by pretending to demand taxes for foreign luxury items. Even gadgets that one used daily like hair-dryers, electric shavers, kitchen appliances were ‘taxed’ without receipts, which meant the money wandered into the pockets of the Bengali customs officers, and the Indian, or for that matter the Bengal government received nothing from this border-income. That was how it functioned.

 

As in the late eighties, there was the danger of a Gorkhaland civil war because a lot of problems were still unsolved. The Gorkhalis were divided now, and Subhas Ghising’s work with his Hill Council was out. Bimal Gurung was gaining in profile. Formerly, Jyoti Basu’s communist government used to deliberately use political and economic delay tactics when it came to Gorkhaland issues. And now the bespectacled Bengali Chief Minister Namata Mukerjee was warning the  Gorkhalis with a raised index-finger and calling them ‘hooligans.’ She even gone further to demand more troops from Delhi, instead of solving Gorkhaland’s people’s demands. India has gained independence from the British Raj in 1947 but the Gorkhalis of Darjeeling were still struggling for their identity. The Bengalis behaved like the British towards the Gorkhalis. They neither spoke the Gorkhali tongue nor did they read Nepali literature. They read their own books and watched their own Bengali films. The Gorkhalis  read Bhanubhakta, Lainsingh Bangdel and Devkota.

The Bengalis had usurped their land and become prosperous and arrogant like the British. The monoculture Thea sinensis was planted by the Nepalese migrants under the British Raj. The British had left in a hurry and the plantations are owned not by Gorkhalis but Bengalis living in Kolkotta. The migrants from Bengal have done in Darjeeling, what the Han Chinese have done in Lhasa. They took away the jobs of the Gorkhalis: the teaching profession,administrative jobs all run by brown Bengali babus.

‘We are better qualified, perhaps,’ say the Bengalis.

Qualification takes time and money.

Mr. Rana thinks out loudly. The only legacy and pride left to us is our brawn, as soldiers under foreign flags and India’s Gorkha regiments. Where is the liberty, equality and fraternity guaranteed by the biggest democracy in the world?

Had Darjeeling been reverted to Sikkim we’d be well off, as the Sikkimese are today under Central rule.

 Where was it better? To live in strife-torn Gorkhaland or in Nepal, a republic run by Maoists? Would it be easier living with Maoists and the different shades of socialists in Nepal?